Your wedding day is approaching and you want to look your best! You ask yourself, “What can I do to be my best for the day and the photos? Not sure if you need to do anything? Look at recent photos of yourself and then decide. Besides, it is always beneficial to exercise and eat right, no matter what shape you are in.
How can I lose weight?
Do you need to lose weight, tone up, or both? If you do, you need to start now and not wait until the last minute. By waiting for the last minute to lose weight too quickly and over exercise, you may become ill or injure yourself, or in some cases…both. You owe it to yourself and your spouse to be to take it slowly and consistently.
Make a Weight Loss and Exercise Plan
Whenever you begin anything new, you need to make a plan which starts with a goal. The same goes for the self-improvement, weightloss plan you are about to launch.
The American Dietetic Association makes the following recommendations:
Write down your attainable, measurable, and realistic goal
research good nutrition (mypyramid.gov)
exercise: body sculpting, weight training, and aerobics
By using mypyramid.gov, you can design a weightloss plan without spending any money beyond a good pair of cross training shoes. At mypyramid.com you can learn about nutrition and how to plan your meals balancing the healthy food groups including the amount nutrients you’re taking in. You will also receive feedback as to the benefits of your exercise plan by learning about calories burned through specific exercises. (more…)
How to decorate a beach wedding is a fine line between creating a stunning location and losing the natural beauty of the beach. Here is how to create a beautiful beach ceremony whatever the weather.
When you are planning your beach wedding it is a good idea to think about the weather as this will effect all your plans on how you decorate. It doesn’t matter that it is raining or windy as long as you are ready!
You will want to have a designated area for your guests and yourselves as you may find that the sand will be too soft to have lots of chairs. For older guests you may want to provide deck chairs and for very young guests blankets for them to sit on. If you have guests in wheelchairs or with buggies then have matting down so that they can join in the celebrations.
You could use shells to mark an aisle in the sand and brighten them up with flowers - make sure you push the stems in so that they don’t blow away. If your ceremony is at dusk then you could mark the aisle with tiki torches or provide guests with lanterns to hold.
If you think that it might rain or it will be very hot you could provide your guests with your wedding color umbrellas and these could be used as your wedding favor as well. Check out ebay and overstock, plus your local dollar stores to find a bargain on the umbrellas. You could then have those little drinks umbrellas in the reception drink to add to the theme!
Covering the area with a wedding tent is a good idea but check with the beach authorities as to whether you would be allowed to have a wedding tent on the beach, some don’t.
If you know a local sand sculptor or local art student why not ask if they are able to design something for the ceremony - this may cost more than you want to spend but a definite wow factor and they last for ages. If you haven’t seen one before you will be amazed. You could recreate a fairy castle, a speed boat and even a vintage car - there really is no limit. If you have lots of children attending the ceremony you could provide them with a bucket and spade so that they can have a go themselves, this is a real help to the parents so that they don’t get bored.
Remember to add your beach theme to your wedding invites so that your guests dress appropriately!
Suzanne has spent the last 12 years working in the Hospitality Industry as a wedding planner and event manager. Organising thousands of functions from small personal parties to large corporate product launches in the UK and Europe. Currently a work at home mum, Suzanne set up her own event company in 2006 and now looks to help future brides and grooms save money when they are planning their wedding.
New Jersey beach wedding brides have some of nature’s most exquisite summer colors to choose from for their NJ beach wedding.
Beach wedding colors taken from nature are green, cornflower, aqua, and marine blue, orange, fuchsia, plus black and white accented with summery colors such as yellow or pink, Aqua Blue, and the lighter purples, like orchid and lavender.
For more daring brides, contrasting color combinations may include orange and fuchsia, green and hot pink, navy or black against any kind of eye-popping-color, and chocolate brown and pink or aqua.
For the more subdued, conservative bride, use of a monochromatic color palate may be more to your liking. Monochromatic appears to be the 2008 color trend for weddings. Monochromatic is using all the hues, (more…)
Are you thinking of having a 4th of July wedding in New Jersey? Next year’s 4th of July is on a Saturday and since this year’s 4th of July just passed, now is a great time to shop for decorations and favors for your NJ 4th of July themed wedding. And where should you hold your 4th of July wedding? On a New Jersey beach, of course!
4th of July NJ Beach Wedding Fireworks
Almost anywhere along the Jersey shore or other waterview locations, you and your wedding guests can enjoy exciting fireworks and you won’t have to pay for them. You can check with the local towns to see when they schedule their fireworks displays. Red Bank’s, on the Navesink River, are always on July 3. NYC’s are always on July 4th. This year, Red Bank had the 3rd best fireworks display, with Macy’s in NYC having the best. We were in Red Bank this year for the 4th of July celebration and must agree that they were great! Red Bank really out did their past displays.
4th of July NJ Beach Wedding Save the Date and Invitations
Once you decide where and when, design your “save the date” announcements with your 4th of July theme, but decide first how casual or classy you want your wedding to be. Your announcement and invitation should give your guests an idea on how to dress for the occasion. For a NJ beach 4th of July wedding, you could include a picture of the two of you on the beach sitting at a table with your theme decorations dressed as you wish your guests would dress for you NJ beach wedding. (more…)
Imagine spending $5000 for a wedding cake! Not many New Jersey brides would spend that much on their wedding cake. One Texas bride had a long time fantasy of having a doll modeled after her. (Wouldn’t an American Doll be a lot less expensive?) To celebrate the renewing of her vows after 10 years of marriage, her husband agreed to her having a life-sized cake make to her likeness. Chidi Ogbuta of Allen, Texas, worked along with two designers to create a wedding cake that looked just like her.
It took about 5 weeks to complete the wedding cake and after serving it to their 500 guests at the September, 2007 wedding, it took about 1 week to finish the leftovers off with the help of friends. Are you wondering if they saved the head for their first anniversary? Imagine going down to the basement late at night to get a pizza out of the freezer and have a head peering out at you? Well, not to fear, the body was the butterscotch cake and the head and arms were made from polymer clay.
How did she accomplish this amazing cake? The bride hired a pastry chef to make the cake, except for the (more…)
The possibilities are endless for alternative wedding locations. Here is an idea that was recently submitted to NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com: Hot Air Ballooning!
NJ Wedding Ceremony in a Hot Air Balloon
Float off into the New Jersey sunset with your officiant, exchanging vows in midflight and then landing in a NJ field or local winery where all the guests await with champagne glasses in hand and a five-star menu, catered by one of New Jersey’s finest culinary vendors, waiting for everyone under a tent.
If you want to catch an early flight to start your honeymoon, you could hold an early morning ceremony followed by a champagne breakfast. When it’s time to leave, have a hot air balloon take you two away. (more…)
Planning a NJ beach wedding? The short video below is of a beautiful, summer day wedding on a New Jersey beach in Bay Head. The wedding party arrives in style on an old fashioned beach Trolley. The bridesmaids’ dresses match the groomsmen’s shirts in a pastel blue tropical floral print. The bride and groom are both dressed in white.
A bit of advice for brides choosing their veil for a beach wedding, remember there is usually a good chance that there will be a soft breeze or perhaps stronger. What may look lovely in the dressing room, may turnout to be a disaster once you walk onto the beach. Lovely, exotic flowers placed attractively in a wind resistant hairstyle will work with your NJ beach theme and continue to look attractive during your New Jersey beach wedding day.
Before your New Jersey beach wedding, hold your rehearsal dinner at this Bay Head seashore Victorian inn:
The Bentley Inn
After your New Jersey beach wedding, hold your reception at this Bay Head Victorian landmark:
To think about choosing which wedding dress for your NJ shore, historical, country club, or ballroom wedding reception among the many, many wedding dress choices offered by NJ bridal vendors, can be overwhelming. There are steps you can take before you do the acutal shopping for your NJ wedding dress.
Take a good look at yourself in a full length mirror. What are your assets…what are not? What would you want to accent? What would you want to camouflage?
Now think about your evening dress wardrobe. Which styles have been the most fattering for your figure? What were you wearing when you received flattering compliments?
Look through the many wedding gown catalogs and online bridal attire websites with your maid of honor and others you trust. Ask their opinions on which wedding dress styles they think would look the best on you.
Take into consideration the season you will marry in. What would be the warmest and coldest temperatures…what style would feel the most comfortable under those conditions?
Speaking of comfort, remember to raise your arms as if you were dancing close with your new husband. Make sure there is enough room and that your dress, if strapless, won’t slip down.
Ask recent brides to recommend New Jersey wedding dress vendors that are known for their expertise in helping brides find the perfect style and dependable quality of service. The sales associates should have an extensive understanding of figure types and which styles look the best.
If you feel you need professional advice to achieve the look you imagine for yourself, hire a professional image consultant.
Your goal is to look exquisite in your wedding dress…to turn everyone’s head…especially the groom’s. (more…)
The Bustle is in use today primarily to lift the long, elegant trains of wedding dresses off the floor. Instead of a framework worn under the wedding gown, the long train is lifted with buttons or ties to create a lovely style that is also very practical.
Adding a Bustle to Your Wedding Dress
Although almost all brides utilize Bustles for their wedding dresses or wedding gowns, you may be surprised to discover that the dresses do not come with bustles in place. The bustle is added during alterations. This makes sense since all brides are not the same height and your bustle should lift the back of your wedding gown to your hem length…so your bustle must be custom made.
Wedding Dress Bustle Options
NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com has put together a short slide show of the basic wedding gown bustle styles for you:
As you can see, you have several choices in wedding dress bustles:
Over Bustle (Ballroom)
Under Bustle
French or Victorian Bustle
Austrian Bustle
Because your wedding dress bustle will be designed for your wedding gown and your own personal preference are the reasons you can’t find “How to Bustle a Wedding Dress” or “How to Bustle a Wedding Gown” directions. Your wedding dress bustle style and how to bustle a wedding dress must be shared between you and your NJ bridal vendor’s seamstress. The best advice NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com can give you is to:
take two or three attendants with you, a video camera, and a notebook and pen
record the instructions both by camera and pen
consider where you will be celebrating - a NJ beach wedding will require your gown to be a bit higher
review your wedding gown bustle directions and plan a trial run before the wedding day
or you may end up missing your cocktail hour. Take a look at this bride’s wedding dress bustle experience! (more…)
Have you considered shopping at the New Jersey wedding vendor, David’s Bridal, for your wedding attire? I’m sure you’ve heard about their extensive collection of bridal gowns, bridesmaids dresses, etc. Or are you leaning towards a smaller bridal shop with individualized attention instead? If that’s the case, we suggest you give David’s Bridal a visit to search for your wedding gown. You just may be surprised and pleased with what you find.
NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com recently interviewed a bride-to-be about her experience shopping at a New Jersey David’s Bridal store for her wedding gown and we accompanied her on her latest visit to David’s Bridal to pick up her bridal gown. (more…)
NJ Wedding Planning
Imagine spending $5000 for a wedding cake! Not many New Jersey brides would spend that much on their wedding cake. One Texas bride had a long time fantasy of having a doll modeled after her. (Wouldn’t an American Doll be a lot less expensive?) To celebrate the renewing of her vows after 10 years of marriage, her husband agreed to her having a life-sized cake make to her likeness. Chidi Ogbuta of Allen, Texas, worked along with two designers to create a wedding cake that looked just like her.
Take a good look at yourself in a full length mirror. What are your assets…what are not? What would you want to accent? What would you want to camouflage?